SHALOM IN THE HOME
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Gives Reality TV a Jewish Twist
By Debra Kamin


In the Learning Channel trailer for his new show, a cartoon rabbi is at the wheel of a van with “Shalom” license plates. While psychedelic scenery splashes about the screen, moms, dads, and kids are steered away from domestic dispute and back onto the road of family bliss, all to the tune of a catchy TV jingle: “Peace in the Home, is the meaning of Shalom!”

Jewish reality TV has arrived.
“Shalom in the Home,” which premiered April 10 on TLC, is no schmaltzy, Dr. Phil-with-a-yarmulke road show. It follows Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, a torah-observant, charismatic mensch who is best known for penning “Kosher Sex,” as he visits dysfunctional American families and tries to restore—you guessed it—Shalom in the Home.

While sex, fights, and drama are bound to come up, the show is actually quite PG. Much of the action takes place in the rabbi’s mobile trailer, where he counsels estranged couples, discusses self-esteem with teenagers, and preaches his holistic view off family.

“This is a show with a lot of heart,” Shmuley, as he likes to be called, said in a phone interview. “We really cared about the families. We went in there and the approach was, help the families, and then factor the show around it.”

Much of the show’s appeal comes from the host’s honesty. Shmuley is himself the child of a messy divorce, and as he interacts with kids in similar situations, his empathy is palpable.

“Marriage should be put before the children,” he said in an April 4 interview for the Washington Post. “Children will outgrow your love someday. They’ll move out and find the love of a stranger. You’ll want them to have the memory that love is real because they saw it at home, and to believe they’ll find a soul mate instead of dating aimlessly, like we see so much of now.”

But why Shmuley? Why not a marriage counselor, a sex therapist, or even just someone as secular as the families themselves?

Perhaps Shmuley was chosen because of his publishing record, which along with “Kosher Sex” includes 15 other books on family and marriage, the latest of which is titled “Ten Conversations You Need to Have With Your Children.” Perhaps it was because of how Shmuley overcame his own parent’s divorce to find happiness with his Australian wife Debbie, who recently gave birth to their eighth child. Perhaps it was because of his success as rabbi-in-chief at Oxford University, where he formed the Oxford L’Chaim Society, a student organization that non only recruited non-Jews, but installed a black non-Jew as its leader.

Shmuley is certainly successful, and he is certainly well-known. But after laughing with him on the telephone and watching the pilot of simple, sweet, show, the answer seems more clear: Shmuley was chosen because Shmuley is what primetime needs.

And putting “Shalom” into the vocabulary of the American family isn’t exactly bad press for Jews, either.

“I think the Jewish community loves the fact that a mainstream network has chosen a rabbi in primetime,” Shmuley said. “It’s never happened before—and they’ve given it such a Jewish name!”

The name “Shalom in the Home” was TLC’s choice, Shmuley said. “They were criticized about [the name] by other television executives who said it was too Jewish,” he said. “But TLC said, ‘no, we’re not going to run away from Shmuley’s identity. It’s part and parcel with who he is, and it’s what makes him so passionate about the family.”

Shalom in the Home airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on TLC.

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